Two Classics, One Car. A Collector Shows Off Her Lifelong Favorite (neat)

New York times ^ | July 7, 2011 | Margaret Dunning

[rawhide]

After six decades, Margaret Dunning, age 101, still breezes down the road in her creamy 740 Packard roadster.

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2011/07/08/automobiles/collectibles/100000000895665/two-classics-one-car.html

[IllumiNaughtyByNature]

For the FReep Peeps on dial up:

[Darnright]

What a cool car (and a cool owner (c; )!

[Cheetahcat]

Very Cool!

[library user]

I want one.

[ozark hilljilly]

For the FReep Peeps on dial up:

Bless you! Were all FReepers as considerate. (loaded up snappy, too!)

I hope to be driving at her age!! Heck, I hope to make it to that age!!!

[rawhide]

Link to a long article about this car and the driver: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/10/automobiles/packard-81-is-a-youngster-to-its-driver.html?_r=1

[rawhide]

Ms. Dunning still changes the oil herself, but mostly relies on a small maintenance team that includes a 90-year-old friend. “His hands are just magic,” she said.

[Lazlo in PA]

That old broad is hard core. Those old Packards are manual everything and yet she can still muscle it around the roads. I liked that she puts a little towel on the running boards to get in. As a guy who has floor mats on top of the original floor mats in my classics, I appreciate that.

I think that car is somewhere in the $250K range for value.

[Past Your Eyes]

A classic car and a classy lady!

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

“His hands are just magic,” she said.

He's a pretty good mechanic too, I hear.

Badump...bump.

Thank you. Thank you. I'll be here all the week. Try the veal and don't forget to tip your waitress.

[DaxtonBrown]

We probably need a ping list for classics. I will be working on my 57 Bel Air this afternoon. Still a little rough, but getting there an inch at a time.

Once you get used to driving the old cars they aren’t bad at all. But there is a reason for those big steering wheels, when I got my car the previous owner had a dinky aftermarket wheel on there that was scary..

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

My Mom (age 93, who is currently in pretty bad shape, in hospice) has a 101 year old friend who routinely drives into San Francisco! Never mind the tolls, I wouldn’t drive into SF if there was any worldly way I could avoid it.

Ilsa. She is quite the pistola, major sparkplug, has indomitable spirit. Can’t hang up the phone with her without a smile on your face.

[kalee]

Love her answer to have “you lived here all your life?”. lol “Not yet!”

[rawhide]

Prayers said for your mother. God bless!

[reg45]

But there is a reason for those big steering wheels - Armstrong steering.

[kalee]

My grandfather died at 100. My great aunt at 104 just days shy of 105. Their aunt died at age 107.
They were living right up to the end.

[Lazlo in PA]

There should be a old car ping.

I have a lot of old stuff. I had the family out in my 1969 Vista Cruiser today. It has drum brakes. You really need to pay attention with that one. The only worse car to drive is my 1969 Camaro that was ordered with manual drum brakes. You sometimes need to use two feet and pull up on the wheel to get enough pressure down to get that to stop. I doubt though that the old lady hot rods like I do.

[Rennes Templar]

“They were living right up to the end.’

I hope they were living up to the end! ;)

I guess you meant, “They were living right... up to the end.”

[yarddog]

That is a stunning car.

Can you still get those tires?